The Spiel - Mp3 Version

Envelope, please. In anticipation of the Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year), one of the most prestigious awards in the board game world, we play all five nominees and try to predict the winner.

Timber! A tree falls on our padded cel, so the next full episode will be in two weeks. We discuss our upcoming summer schedule, including the Spiel des Jahres spectacular, Origins, Gen Con, and Listener's Choice shows.

Gone fishin'. The bait: wooden penguins and little rubber worms. We strike bargains with talking fish and dive under the ice looking for the big catch playing If Wishes Were Fishes and Hey! That's My Fish!

Eight quickies. Whether you need a game for a lunch break at work or to play with your kids for half an hour, it's good to have some filler games in your bag of tricks. We reach into our bag give you the scoop on eight titles, each reviewed in 5-7 minutes

Stand down from DEFCON 2! We rewrite history, replaying the Cold War not once, but twice in this superpower sized episode. We tackle Twilight Struggle and Cold War: CIA v KGB.

Break out your nine iron and flibberty-gibbets. The Spiel turns two! We take on Coppertwaddle a medieval card game with a rich (fake) history and we roll our way through Box of Golf in all its wooden splendour.

Play ball! But forget the steroids; we've got Divine Intervention. Just in time for Spring Training, we play Pizza Box Baseball, a light card-driven simulation. Then we ascend to the heavens to protect four mythical races in Age of Gods.

Much better than a pig in a poke. We reach into our bag of tricks and find two light but surprising little games: the abstract award-winning Qwirkle and the latest from German designer Freidemann Freise, Felix the Cat in the Sack.

Barbarians at the gates? Get rolling! We build a small but great wall in Chang Cheng and use dice to hire advisors to protect His Majesty's realm in Kingsburg.

Roll up your sleeves. Time to get your hands dirty. We chop wood and cut stone to build Kingsbridge Catehdral in Pillars of the Earth and send our swarms out to surround Queen bees in the strategy classic Hive.

Not miles... hours! 24 of them. We set out to play games for 24 consecutive hours in order to get our unplayed list of games below 200. This episode was recorded as we played and documents the events of our day including session reports on a truckload of games both large and small.

Woah! Five games, five designers... all in one box. The stars align for us to play Stonehenge: The Anthology Board Game. We review all five games, each by a different renowned designer.

Holiday hodge-podge. Reports and interviews from CHITAG (Chicago Toy and Game Fair) plus a review of Piratenbillard, a game where players use duck headed mallets to pop cannon balls across a wooden grid.

Crack your knuckles and loosen up. We knock heads and little plastic men in our first Subbuteo Table Soccer match and then twist our fingers into pretzels balancing little foam balls playing Handy. Arthritis here we come!

Say no to lame gifts. Give a game instead. We recommend over 50 games in twelve different categories to fit almost any person or budget. With this great list, you might even make a wish list of your own!

Baby needs a new pair of shoes. We build a casino empire in Vegas Showdown and climb the long ladder from Hemp Chicken to Dragon in the modern card classic Tichu.

Everything's better with Zombies. From a shooting gallery with garlic grenades to our very own zombie baseball team, we shamble our way through Vampire and Zombie Fluxx, two games that include a festival of undeadly delights.

Don't Panic. But get comfortable. Grab a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster from the bar settle in for our take on Twilight Imperium, a game of galactic conquest whose play time could be measured in light years.

Wonder Twin powers, activate! We play Blue Moon City, a board game based on a card game and Caylus Magna Carta, a card game based on a board game, plus we discuss the risks and rewards of changing classic games in reprints.

Y is for Yggdrasil. We load our longboats and set sail in search of adventure on the stormy North seas, playing Fire & Axe and Vikings. Surely, an episode worthy of the sagas!